My Spanish Adventure | Take 1 – Mallorca 70.3
Two years in the making, 2 years!! 2 years ago we dreamed up this crazy dream to travel to Spain for Mallorca 70.3 and Barcelona 70.3. If you’re going to do one then why not do 2 70.3’s. I may never get back, so let the planning begin.
Injury recovery had other plans and I was honestly uncertain if I would be able to swim stroke #1 or run Step #1. Talk about anxiety, but I was going to Spain!!! The adventure was amazing, the friendship was amazing, the Spanish villas, Montserrat, the people, the sights and I even stayed in a real castle!!!!!! Like a fairy tale☺
The VRBO in Mallorca was absolutely stunning as we prepared for our adventure. 6 of us tackling the day and 2 amazing support crew. The day before we did the usual tasks; shake out, bike check-in, hydrating, eating well, KT taping the shoulder (wait that isn’t normal) and prepping the coffee for the am. A bit of anxiety here about the unknown, but happily throwing banter about racing and who is finishing first!!!!
Mallorca 70.3 is the largest 70.3 in the world and the transition is HUGE!!! European IM’s are so awesome and just expect you to follow the rules and get the job done. So, let’s do it. We arrived at the race site, checked our bags and headed to get our wetsuits on for the swim. Absolutely perfect weather! I line up in the 35-39 minute corral and await my turn to wade into the water. No wading, it’s time to go!!! First, unknown answered, yep, the shoulder hurt (had a bit of bursitis, from sleeping wrong??). Shoulder hurt every stroke, but just keep swimming. Be like Dori and just keep swimming! Four turns and I found myself at the end of a fairly uneventful, but mildly painful swim. 39 minutes, so perfect. Well, ok ok, I would have liked to swim 36 minutes, but not expected after NO swimming since March. Did I mention this was May?
Wetsuit off and quick transition….time to go catch one of my teammates on the bike. I settled into a nice pace on the bike until Mile 20 and then BAM! The Mallorca Mountain. We had driven the course the day before, so we knew what to expect. Well, we thought we did. A nice 9-mile 3000-foot climb, bahahahahahahahah! Up we go! I could give the play by play detail here, but suffice it to say, it was a long slow climb!!! But wait, I am in Mallorca, I am racing and I am on my bike. The Trifecta! And, here’s the gas station, yeah, we are on the way down. No sheep, please!!! (Yes, there were sheep on the bike course). The Europeans know how to cycle. I am the classic Flatlander and these were the classic switchbacks and people were flying by me. But, guess what, I caught them on the flats! Yeah, no sheep and finished with the switchbacks. Then we rolled through some small towns and I felt like I was on the Tour de France, well, the Tour de Mallorca! As I rolled into town, we were hit with some headwinds, good ole headwinds, but off the bike I went.
Having only done ONE 7 miler before this, who knew what to expect. At the sign of any foot numbness, I was headed to walk, but I believed my body could do this. It was cooler and a beautiful day and I had a teammate to catch. Got through the first 4 miles and then I knew I was getting closer. I made a friend, a new friend and we cruised 5 miles and my body was working. NO pain here. Now 4 more miles and just running aid station to aid station and walking every aid station and that is exactly what I did.
#36 in the books!! 36 xhalf IM’s and #103 Triathlons. Mallorca did not disappoint and I almost almost almost caught him ☺ Ran out of real estate. I highly recommend this race as it is everything I love; beautiful, challenging and just plain racing.
Now time to recover for Part 2 of the Spanish Adventure!!
Soar Higher than you Dare,
Coach
